Indoor pool walls – ICF
Vince79775
| Posted in General Questions on
I have to rebuild my pool house I just purchased due to previous owner poor construction. Rotted out in 7 years.
the foundation/frost wall is ICF and was contemplating just doing the whole wall as ICF. Is this a good idea.
framework is timberframe with SIP roof (also rotten as there was no air/vapor barrier installed)
I’ve read all there is to find on wall construction techniques is (ie. “off the deep end”) but find little on ICF…
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Replies
Pool rooms and pool houses are brutal in terms of moisture management. I avoid concrete and foam whenever possible, especially above grade, but this is one situation where they would be a good option.
It can also be done using wood framing, fluffy insulation and vapor retarders, but someone who really knows what they're doing needs to design it.
Concrete doesn't care about moisture and the layer of rigid on the inside will keep moisture from reaching it. The only thing you have to watch is any interior covering needs to be vapor open.
This is just me thinking out laud but I really don't see any issues with it for a pool.
The SIP roof is a bad idea, for the roof, I would look at regular stud framing with a vapor barrier over the roof deck and exterior rigid insulation only above it. Again, only vapor permeable finishes on the inside*.
With ICF, the one spot you would have to watch is around windows where the concrete core is exposed. Probably best there to build window bucks out of something like R6 or R9 ZIP R and install the windows to the bucks.
* you can also build the walls exactly the same way and they will work great if you don't want to go ICF. This is a good read about pools:
https://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-055-in-the-deep-end
The frame does not look rotten in your photo, it appears moldy. You probably had huge vapor drive from the inside that rotted the sheathing.
You might be able to reuse the frame and save some expense. Should say, I like the idea of ICFs for an indoor pool too. With a wood frame, as Michael said, the designer and builder really need to know their stuff.
There is a lot of mold but in places the 2x6 is more than 50% disapeared and I can break the boards with my fingers half way through in places. There were gaps in the Vapor barrier measured in square feet.